"We met in London, kind of looked at one another and wrote each other down. At the end of a different year, we met again, shook hands, decided to write some music together / transcontinentally. I was living in America, renting a cheap room, had a borrowed 4-track and a mic made out of a telephone. I sent him tapes. He'd send me his. We'd add to each other's and send them back and forth. That lasted about 6 months. Neither of us really liked doing it that way. It took too long; it wasn't spontaneous. The waiting amounted to so much anxiety. One morning I bought a plane ticket when I got the cash together, called him and said, 'I'm coming, I'm moving.' We spent the first couple of months together trying to fix his broken gear. I don't remember us ever successfully fixing a goddamn thing. We wound up buying a couple of two dollar guitars from a junk shop and locking the door for four to five month." - Alison Mosshart

By the summer, following just a handful of UK dates, they embark on a self-financed three month tour of the US, playing 50 gigs, covering 14,000 miles and amassing over a thousand dollars in speeding fines. On their return to the UK, they write and record The Black Rooster EP, three tracks of scuzzed up, pared down blues (and an inspired Captain Beefheart cover) showcasing their sound and setting the blueprint for what’s to follow.

In November of 2002, The Kills returned to East London's Toe Rag studios to record their debut album, Keep On Your Mean Side. Recorded in just 18 days, the album's twelve tracks encapsulate a sound and attitude that’s fervent, gritty, visceral and intense. Included here are "Cat Claw," "Wait" and "Black Rooster" taken from their debut EP, forthcoming single "Fried My Little Brains," and the anthemic "Fuck The People".